The battle between Nook and Kindle has been raging for almost a year now. When the Nook launched last year, Amazon had released its second-generation Kindle. Now that Amazon has released its third generation, what does the Nook vs Kindle comparison look like?
5 Important Changes in Kindle 3– First, let’s take a look at 5 important ways the new Kindle is different from the old one.
- Battery duration– The battery can now last up to 30 days on a single charge. The old Kindle was around 2 weeks old.
- Memory– Standard memory holds up to 3,500 books now, up from 1,500 books on the old Kindle 2.
- Smaller/lighter/thinner– The Kindle 3 keeps the same 6″ screen and trims the thickness in other ways. It’s 17% lighter than the Kindle 2.
- improved contrast– The display screen shows darker letters and a lighter background.
- Faster, quieter page turns– There is a 20% improvement in page turning speed. A major improvement is also the QUIETER page turn. That’s been a downfall for the Kindle 2, or rather a downfall for your reading spouse trying to sleep next to you.
3 big differences of the corner- Although the following features are not the only differences between Nook and Kindle, these are arguably the most important.
- Color navigation/touch screen– The Nook has a 3″ color touch navigation screen to navigate through your library of books with the swipe of a finger. The screen also turns into a touch keyboard to help with navigation. Using a web browser in the window is in beta testing at the moment as well.
- loan books– The Nook allows you to lend titles to friends and family with the Nook app, or the Nook itself, for up to 2 weeks. The lender cannot use the material during that time. This is unique to the Nook as the Kindle does not allow this feature.
- reading in store– There’s a new perk to owning the Nook and taking it to your local Barnes and Noble stores, namely one hour of free reading of any book available in the B&N library.
5 Big Differences from the Kindle 3– Here are some important differences of the Kindle 3 compared to the Nook. There are more differences, hence the higher number.
- Push button technology– The Kindle has always used simple button technology, and the newest version is no exception.
- more memory– Although the Nook has expandable memory, the Kindle 3 comes with more than double the standard memory capacity.
- Battery duration– Kindle battery life on a single charge (without wireless connection) is 30 days. The Nook (wireless power off) is 10 days.
- International wireless capability– The Kindle works wirelessly at 3G speeds in over 100 countries right now. The Nook works within the continental US.
- Lower price: Both Wi Fi only and Wi Fi + 3G cost $10 less than the respective Nook models.
There is a short, but comprehensive comparison of the Nook Vs Kindle 3.